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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

roadtrip

Oh my! What a week. We've not had internet since last Monday, but I didn't realize it was down the entire week because I didn't have time to sit down to use it until I was home on Friday. By the time I was free to realize it was still down, it was yesterday. I called Comcast and their very nice repair guy was here first thing this morning.

ROADTRIP!

Carol and I left Tuesday morning, bright and early and headed up to her and Robert's Central Idaho home. We were without real plans for anything other than gabbing and eating and taking it easy. We had a lovely time together. There were lots of laughs, some tears, more Diet Coke than should be acceptable in any circle, very very little sleep. It was a good time. It was good to be there together, Carol's first time in Idaho since Robert's funeral. I'm so very grateful for our friendship and cherish every minute that we get to spend together, especially alone and uninterrupted time!

A little travelogue...

Monday morning, we headed north and spent most of the day in Pocatello with Carol's daughter, Madi and her daughter, Makayla. I was very excited to go to lunch at our favorite Pocatello eatery, Mama Inez. They have the best shrimp enchiladas I've ever tasted! We shopped and hit a couple of different Sonics and I had my first Costco experience... wowser! Carol introduced me to chocolate and caramel covered macadamia nuts...like Turtles. Oh. MY. Word!!!! Delish!!! It was a good afternoon. That's the most time I've spent with Madi in a couple of years. It's great to see her so happy in her life!

We left Poky and headed to Carol's Idaho home. Of course, we didn't go straight there. We stopped several times... for treats to take home, for dinner, to buy a puzzle and a few games, then at the theater for San Andreas! WOW!!! Talk about an action packed movie! We loved it!

We didn't actually get to the house until well after dark. The home was very warm and ready for the A/C to be turned on. When we turned it on, we quickly realized that it was having a problem. So, we got our jammies on and sat under the ceiling fan to keep cool until we finished our puzzle. Lots of gab! We were quite proud to finish it before bedtime although it was only a 300 piece puzzle. (I've never done such a small puzzle and quite enjoyed being able to race through it like that!)

Tuesday morning, we slept in until about 8:30 and got ready for our big day in Twin Falls. Before leaving town, we went up to the cemetery and visited Robert's grave. {{Deep sigh. Head shaking.}} We went up to Shoshone Falls. This was a place that we'd gone last year when Doug and I spent a few days with Robert and Carol. Last year, there was no water, literally. This year, it was fabulous!

Many of the things that Carol and I did brought back memories and brought up emotions that were painful. Robert's passing is still so new, so devastating. In one way, this trip was a healthy thing. In another, it was quite painful. My heart hurts for her! Heck, my heart hurts for us all! There were so many moments that we both thought, out loud, of the "If onlys" and the "what might have beens". And there were others that we were able to enjoy and laugh. One thing about my friendship with Carol is that we can laugh, no matter what. It was good to be able to laugh, even through the pain.

The falls were breathtaking. We were a little unnerved by the fact that we'd seen San Andreas the night before, so standing near a reservoir reminded us of the movie. Regardless, what a sight! Beautiful!!!

A very nice man offered to take our pics with both of our phones. A huge difference with the phone camera!

That afternoon, we enjoyed a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant, checked out the theater, but there was nothing worth seeing, hit Pier One, did some more shopping for new pajamas and then headed back to her home to make dinner to take to Robert's daughter's home. We had a nice dinner with her and her family, then headed back to Carol's home. We stopped at her nephew, Cam's home to visit and took a fun ride up to the reservoir on the Razor with Cam and his wife. It was a bittersweet ride. We laughed and had a great time, but, again, it was also a very blatant reminder that Robert was not there with us. Just as the sun was setting, we went back to the house for movies, treats and cards and another late night. We started a scary movie but about two minutes into it, we passed and moved on to another. Good times.

The reservoir was beautiful as the sun set.

Wednesday, we were awakened quite early by the air-conditioner repairman. I mean early, as in 7:15! I was so excited for Wednesday! We went to the town where Carol had grown up. We toured her sister, Janet's home, which is so beautiful, it gave me goosebumps! LOVED it! We toured the town with Janet and had a lovely lunch on the patio of a restaurant on the town square, then a fabulous quilt shop! WOWSER!!! Seeing Carol's schools, old friends homes, hearing tales of her youth was so much fun. I love this little town and told her several times that I could live there forever!

That evening, we decided to have a simple night at home... we took a ride to the next valley for some beautiful photos and an hour walk through a cemetery (not Robert's), just enjoying the fascinating headstones. This little valley reminded me of our beautiful Cache Valley, but was barely habituated. It was a piece of heaven on earth, for sure. We ran across this old LDS church that was built in 1928 and used for worship until 1954.

This valley...beautiful!

We also stopped and took a tour of Robert's office, which had at one point, been the old town bank. It was fun to look inside the beautiful antique safe.

After our drive, we went back to the house, made dinner and watched a few movies, including some new to us Doris Day movies. We'd started a new puzzle and I worked on it until 3AM, enjoying our newly repaired air-conditioner. Crazy, I know, to stay up that late. One thing that I am always guilty of is never wanting to go to bed early because there's still time for living! I'll sleep when I'm dead!

As soon as we woke up, we loaded up and headed home. Our drive home was filled with more gab, more treats and a few good laughs. We also started planning our next road trip! (What a blessing to have a husband who encourages me to enjoy life and sees to it that I can!) My time with Carol is always special. I love our friendship. I love our time together. I love her. Right now, it's not all fun and laughs, but it's always good to be together.